For Them Alone
by garg-girl
Summary: Discovery of an encrypted file in the Ancient database, leads the team to a secret chamber and an ally they didn't even know that had. Rated: g. Suitable for all audiences.


**For Them Alone**

_**by garggirl**_

Disclaimer:   
All the characters appearing in this fic are copyright Cooper/Wright Company and Acme Productions.  
No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder.  
All original characters are the property of garggirl. 

Author's Note: Minor spoilers for "Hot Zone", "Before I Sleep" and "The Gift"

There was, Radek thought, something quite irritating being trapped in an alien galaxy with an insufferable know-it-all -- and for once he didn't mean Rodney. The weekly science department meeting was in full swing, and no matter how hard he tried, Kavanagh's whiny voice cut through his reverie like a hot knife through butter.

Despite being in the middle of a meeting, both he and Rodney were hard at work attempting to translate and download as much of the Ancient database as they could. Even with the latest shipment of hard drives from Earth, the number of available drives were coming up far short.

Radek tried to divide his attention between the meeting and the task at hand, and as a result, he almost missed it. Thank God the computer failsafe hadn't!

Radek sat up straight. "Dobree den, co tu?" translation: "Hello, what's this?"

Rodney's head suddenly jerked around to look at his colleague. "What?" His tone was filled with concern. "What? Something wrong?"

"Seems we've hit a small snag with translating the database," Radek reported, the group of scientists suddenly falling silent. Thankfully, that also included Kavanagh and his daily bitch-fest. "My computer has encountered an encrypted file. I'll put a copy in the network for you."

Rodney promptly called up the network drive and waited for the file to appear. Clicking the icon, a series of one's and zero's scrolled up his screen. "I'm going put it through the standard decryption logirhythms and see what it comes up with."

Almost instantly, the computer jargon blinked out as was replaced with a steady stream of symbols.

"Hmmmm," Rodney said absent-mindly.

"What?" Radek returned.

Rodney squinted at his laptop. "It looks to be a form of the Ancient language. I've come across it a few times here and there. I can only assume that it's an old dialect."

"An ancient Ancient language," Radek chuckled slightly under his breath. "Can you read it?"

There was a long pause before Rodney replied. "None of the translation logirhythms seem to be working as they should. All I got is 'slumber', 'blood', and a really weird name. I think it's pronounced 'Xylia'."

"That doesn't sound good," interjected one of the other scientists.

Suddenly, Rodney looked up, remembering they were in the middle of a meeting. "Okay, uh, I think that's everything for today. I want that report on Jumper One's engine by lunch, and Kavanagh, unclench -- you'll get those materials when I'm damn good and ready to allocate them to you. Radek, if you'll follow me?"

Both Radek and Rodney stood abruptly, laptops tucked neatly under their arms, and made a quick exit, leaving Kavanagh fuming on the spot he stood.

A few minutes later, the two scientists found themselves descending upon Dr. Weir's office. Without knocking, Rodney strolled in, Radek trailing uncertainly in his wake.

"Got a moment, 'Lizabeth?" Rodney said.

Elizabeth stared up at Rodney, casting a brief glance to Teyla sitting next to her. "Is there a problem?" she asked, worry infusing her voice.

"More of a conundrum, really," Rodney replied, pulling a chair closer and opening his laptop. "Radek found an encrypted file in the Ancient database. We were able to decrypt it but it seems to be in a very old dialect, so our programs couldn't translate it."

Radek pushed his slipping glasses back up his nose. "And since you had such promising success at translating that Wraith derivitive we thought we'd give you a crack at it."

Rodney turned the monitor towards the ladies.

Suddenly, Teyla pulled the screen closer to her. "Where in the database did you find this?"

"Historical records, I believe," Radek replied.

"It is a poem," Teyla added quickly.

Rodney, Radek and Elizabeth looked at the Athosian in various stages of surprise.

"You can read it?"

Teyla nodded without removing her eyes from the screen. "Indeed, but it is a form I have not seen since the days of my grandfather's leadership. He would tell us of a prophesy of the Ancestors. Of an Ancestor who slumbered in secret in the ancestral home, waiting for the day that travelers from a distant world would come and help restore the city to its former glory."

"Well," Rodney said impatiently, "Can you tell us what the poem says?"

Teyla cleared her throat and began. "Isle of towers, glass and steel, the city will slumber 'til they appear. Azure glass in emerald frame, pure white lilies speak her name. Blood red bane in ebon stone, Xylia waits for them alone."

There was a long pause before anyone spoke.

"What, the hell, does that mean?" Rodney threw up his hands.

Elizabeth's eyes remained glued on the screen. "It's a riddle."

"What?"

"A riddle," Elizabeth reiterated. "Think about it: 'Isle of towers, glass and steel,' that's obviously talking about the city itself."

"Well, what about the next line?" Radek chimed in. "'The city will slumber 'til they appear.' Who could that mean?"

Teyla stood and began to paced the room. "The travelers from the prophesy -- it could mean your expedition team, couldn't it?"

"It's possible," Rodney replied. "But if that's the case, this so-called sleeping 'Ancestor' could've been referring to that alternate-Weir, and we've already encountered her."

"Maybe there was someone else left behind," Elizabeth interjected. "And if that's the case, maybe he or she is still here...waiting to be found."

The quartet exchanged a four-way intrigued glance.

"There are still large chunks of the city still waiting to be explored," Rodney harumphed. "This person could be anywhere."

Elizabeth smiled slightly at her physicist friend. "Don't be so linear, Rodney." Elizabeth moved over to her own computer and brought up an image of the city layout. "I've been doing a little experimenting of my own with some of the programs we've interfaced with the Ancient systems, and I've come up with a map of sorts." She punched a couple buttons and the image coalaesed into an array of colours. "I've kept track of everything, colour-coding areas we've already explored, systems we've gained access to, and places we still have yet to go."

Rodney sidled up next to her. "So, how does that help us?"

"It also details rooms we haven't been able to get into," Elizabeth replied. "They are quite a few, but wouldn't it stand to reason that this person would be in the room nearest to the Control Room?"

Teyla's expression brightened slightly. "So they could easily access the Stargate if there was trouble."

"Exactly what I was just thinking," Elizabeth smiled, and she punched a few more buttons. "Look here," she pointed to the screen. "There's a room we've been trying to gain access to since we've arrived, it's just a few yards beyond the south entrance of the Gaterium."

"That's as good a place to start as any, I suppose," Rodney mused.

"To be on the safe side, should we not call Lt. Col. Sheppard and Dr. Beckett in case there is trouble?" Teyla cautioned.

Elizabeth nodded and tapped her radio...

Ten minutes later, Sheppard and Beckett joined the party in Weir's office. The quartet filled in the new arrivals on the events of the past half hour then set off for the room in question.

Soon, the half dozen figures found themselves standing in front of a massive metal door that, unlike most of the others, didn't respond instantly to Sheppard's presence. Engraved on the shiny surface of the door was the image of a long-hair woman with the rays of a sun shining down on her.

"So," Sheppard began, looking sidewardly at Weir. "Did the poem say anything about how to get in?"

Elizabeth shook her head, stepping forward to get a closer look at the carving. Reaching out, she brushed a tentative hand over the embossed image, her fingers lightly tracing the smooth contours.

Elizabeth exhaled softly. "Any ideas?"

Rodney shrugged. "Explosives?"

Beckett smirked. "Personally, I'm rather partial to a plan that doesn't involve a life-threatening explosion."

Teyla began to run a hand over the carving as well. "Perhaps there is some sort of a hidden catch?"

Radek chuckled lightly. "It couldn't possibly be that easy." A long silence stretched around them before his smile faded. "Could it?"

"Well, knowing our track record over the last couple years, I've learned that...yes. Yes, it could." John smirked.

As one, the six began to search all around the frame of the door for a catch or secreted handle. After several silent moments of searching, Rodney threw his hands up in frustration.

"This is getting us nowhere!"

"Well, there has to be something." Elizabeth replied. "Something small that we're over-looking."

Radek peered curiously at the engraved woman. "Rodney, would you give me boost?"

Rodney nodded and complied without argument. Radek kept his hands on the metal door to steady his ascent as he inched higher and higher. He looked hard at the engraved section before him.

"Hell, Radek," Rodney puffed. "What you do? Put on a pound or ten?"

Radek scowled and returned his attention to the door.

John cocked an eyebrow at the Czech. "What? What're you thinking?"

Radek pulled a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket. "There looks like there's some sort of writing here." He placed pencil to paper and made a rubbing of the area he was looking at. After a moment, he signalled to Rodney to put him down.

The Czech moved to stand beside Teyla. "It looks to be in same dialect from the encrypted file. Can you read it?"

Teyla took the paper from Radek. "Here she sleeps, and here she will stay, until the key reveals the way."

"Great," Rodney fumed. "Now we're back to square one!"

"Not necessarily." Elizabeth interjected. "At least we know we're at the right place."

"And the 'key' part?"

Elizabeth was silent for several seconds as she looked up at the engraved figure. She pointed at it. "Look, around her neck. What is that?"

The others looked at where Elizabeth was pointing.

"A key on a chain?" Sheppard intoned.

Radek prodded Rodney into hoisting him up again, which he reluctantly complied. With a steady digit, the Czech pressed down on the engraved key.

Suddenly, a scraping sound filled the air. Rodney nearly dropped Radek in a bid to get away from the door. Slowly, a crack appeared down the center of the door, essentially creating a set of double doors, and began to inch open.

Once the doors opened far enough, the group gaped at what they saw, for inside appeared to be sort kind of an arboretum, with row upon row of colourful flowers and leafy bushes. Despite the fact there appeared to be no windows, the shrubbery appeared to be blooming tall and strong.

Tentatively, they made their way inside and dispersed to examine the room more closely.

Unbeknownst to them all, the heavy doors began to creep closed. Their earliest indication that something was not quite right was the very audible sound of the doors clamping tightly together.

John and Rodney rushed the door in a vain attempt to force them open, once again there being no visible way to open them.

Rodney sighed heavily at turned to look at Elizabeth. "Well, what do we do now?"

"I am reasonably certain," Teyla intoned. "That once we have discovered what we are destined to uncover, we will be allowed to depart."

Elizabeth eyes began to travel the room, her eyes landing on a small pool of water. "Azure glass in emerald frame." she breathed, walking closer.

"What?" Rodney asked.

"Azure glass in emerald frame," Elizabeth reiterated. She encircled the water. "A pool of water... surrounded by a grassy shore."

Teyla, standing next to a small garden, knelt down next to the flowers, fingering the blossoms of a canalily. "Pure white lillies speak her name." Ever so deftly, the Athosian woman plucked the blossom and joined Elizabeth at the water's edge. Sharing a curious look with Weir, Teyla dropped the bloom onto the water's surface.

Elizabeth glanced awkwardly at the others. She cleared her throat and spoke in a strong tone. "Lady Xylia, we bid you. Awaken!"

The water began to ripple, the rings gradually growing larger and larger. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet began to rumble and shake, and the water rippled furiously.

"What, the bloody hell, is happening?" Carson shouted over the din.

No sooner had the words fallen from his lips did a dark spot appear beneath the water's surface, and growing steady darker with each passing second. Soon, the surface of the water parted and a long, stone block rose from the watery depths.

"You don't see that everyday," John breathed, as he and the others came closer.

Three sides of the obilesk were bare slabs of black stone. The fourth was adorned with a single crimson crystal.

"Blood red bane in ebon stone," Rodney whispered as he reached out with a purposeful hand to touch the crystal. No sooner had his fingers brushed the cool rock did the crystal begin to glow a gentle red.

The group of six gaped as the front portion of the black stone slipped down. Inch by inch, a still and serene form of a long fair-haired young woman was revealed. Her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping and her arms were folded gently across her mid-section. Her garments consisted of a silver-hued flowing dress and dark green cloak. All around her, there seemed to be blinking machine parts.

Elizabeth blinked. "Xylia waits for them alone," she whispered.

Rodney motioned to the figure. "Xylia, I presume."

Everyone was silent as they waited for signs of life. Several seconds passed, and when nothing happened, Beckett approached the obliesk. He pressed a finger firmly to the woman's neck and waited, searching for a pulse.

Suddenly, the woman's eyes popped open. Beckett gaped and instinctually took a step back.

"Welcome, my children. I'm a Xylia," her voice was soft and lyrical, and also bore a watery element.

Elizabeth smiled sweetly. "Hello. I'm Dr. Eliza--" Elizabeth was suddenly cut off.

"Dr. Elizabeth Weir of Earth," Xylia smiled, as if her finishing Elizabeth's sentence was nothing out of the ordinary. She then turned her attention to the others. "And you are Lt. Col. Sheppard, Drs. McKay, Zelenka, and Beckett, and Teyla Emmagan. I welcome thee."

Rodney smirked. "Hey, that's a great trick, Psychic Sally. Now tell me what I'm thinking."

"Rodney!" John chided.

Elizabeth tried to compose herself enough to continue. "How do you know who we are?"

"I've been watching you," Xylia replied matter-of-factly.

Beckett's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Y'have? How? Why?"

"I have watched over you from the very moment you arrived, preparing the way, unlocking the secrets of the city." Xylia unentwined her arms from around her abdomen and stretched them out in front of her. "I am Atlantis made flesh."

"Really?" Radek intoned in surprise.

Rodney stared up at Xylia in her stone and mechanized casket. "I always suspected there was an organic element to the city itself, but it never occurred to me that there was an actual human brain operating it."

Teyla's brow furrowed. "I do not understand."

"When we first arrived, we assumed that many of the city systems were automated, coming online by themselves," Rodney explained. "But over the last couple months I've run tests on some of the systems that had activated themselves. If just wasn't possible for so many systems to activate at once, there had to be something controlling them, almost like a central power source." He looked up at Xylia. "An organic source capable of learning, adapting, and anticipating everything happening everywhere in the city."

"So," Sheppard began tentatively. "Who are you?"

"One of many -- well, time was. Now I'm alone in the city," Xylia explained. "There were others placed around the city, but as Atlantis' great shield began to collapse and sections of the city became flooded, they perished under the strain of struggling to maintain the areas they were responsible for."

"If you've been around and conscious for thousands of years," Rodney said, "What exactly are you? Some kind of immortal creature?"

Xylia smiled. "Nope. I am as human as you are. But we Altarians learned many millenia ago of the secrets of long life." Xylia paused as she looked each of them in the eye. "I've been waiting for this day for a very long time."

Elizabeth took a sep forward. "Teyla told us of a prophesy. Of travellers from a distant world who would come and retore the city. I have to know, was it speaking of us?"

Xylia smiled. "Yes and no. The prophesy, as you call it, was written after the other Elizabeth appeared before the great evacuation. Even then, I slumbered in a waking state in my chamber, watching, listening, as Janus made his plans to circumvent the orders of the Council, as Melia recorded her message for your team to find, as Moros and the others of the Council were blind to the secret plans being formed regarding the future of the city. I saw it all, and I did nothing to stop it. Melia came to me, ordered myself and the other caretakers to watch over the city and the sleeping alternate Dr. Weir. She sealed the chamber and left clues she knew would lead you to me."

"Couldn't ye have just came out and told us of yerself?" Carson asked. "Instead of all this cloak and dagger routine?"

Xylia shook her head. "It could not be risked for fear of breach of the gate and someone other than your team entering the city and unlocking its secrets. We had to be sure you and you alone gained access and discovered the greatest legacy the Altarians could leave their decendants."

John cleared his throat conspiculously. "Forgive me for going all military here, but I just have to ask, in all the Ancients vast knowledge, is there anything that we can use to fight the Wraith?"

"Perhaps," Xylia smiled. "But ultimately, that is really up to you to uncover. Were I to tell you, you would not find the strength to discover it yourself."

Rodney threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Well, that is all sorts of help that's not!"

Xylia continued. "Although I cannot tell you were to look, I can tell you where not to look,"

Carson arched his eyebrows in confusion. "Huh?"

Xylia's smile broadened. "It's all a matter of perspective. The Council was great at many things, but what they were not so good at was defining symmantics." There was a slight pause before she continued. "The key to understanding the Wraith lies not within their hands but within their hearts. Do with this information what you will. I must return to my waking slumber. This experience has been quite taxing."

And without a further word. Xylia returned to her resting position, the obliesk door closed, and it returned to its watery depths.

The room filled with silnce for several long seconds.

Rodney shouted down into the pool. "Well thanks for showing us the way out!"

At that moment, the room began to shake. As one, the group turned to look at the stone door as it split down the middle and began to inch open.

The group moved to make their way out of the room, all but Elizabeth. She just stood in place gazing down at the pool of water, watching the ripples peterout to nothing.

Teyla turned a curious eye on the brunette. "Is something the matter, Dr Weir?" The others then stopped in the tracks and looked back at their leader.

Elizabeth barely glanced at the Athosian woman. "No, not really." She sighed. "It's just, I find myself wondering how many cryptic messages the Ancients had planned on leaving us. Our understanding of their technology is so limited. If there is something in the database to help us fight the Wraith, how are we supposed to know what to do with it? Or, for that matter, maybe we already found it and didn't realize it."

Carson joined Elizabeth by the water's edge and laid a comforting touch on her shoulder. "If there's anything I've learned since we arrived it's that we're ingenuitious little buggers. One of three things is bound to happen. A) We'll keep digging until we find the information our new friend has hinted to. B) We'll go back over the information we've already got to make sure we hadn't missed anything. Or, C) We'll come up with something only us scrappy Earthlings could've ever conjured up."

Elizabeth smirked. "Think so?"

Rodney bounced on the balls of his feet. "Hey, have we ever lied to you?"

Elizabeth's smile faded from her lips. "Yes. Several times."

The Canadian figited slightly. "I meant today."

Elizabeth sighed heavily. "Well, back to work, shall we?"

The others nodded and continued on out. Once on the other side, the doors began to close on their own accord once again. Elizabeth stopped and cast a brief look back inside. Somehow, she knew that she would need to speak with Xylia again one day, and the Ancient would have no other choice than to take a more active role in the fight againt the Wraith.

THE END


End file.
